The Mutant Academy Game
by Ice Drop
Summary: Bobby finds out that he's not in the X-Men PlayStation Game, and all the others are. :)


Disclaimer: Bobby, Hank, Remy, Rogue and Jean are all Marvel's. PlayStation is Sony's. X-Men Mutant Academy 2 is um, Marvel's and Sony's I guess.  
  
Author's Note: You might have to be a little familiar with the X-men Mutant Academy 2 game for this story to make some sense. Not that it actually does, but it might help ;)  
  
Archive: ask permission please :)  
Email: meekerz@hotmail.com  
Webbie: http://meekerz.keenspace.com  
Finished: April 28, 2002  
Editted: April 29, 2002 -- Fixed a lot of typos.   
  
  
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THE MUTANT ACADEMY GAME  
by Ice Drop  
  
  
  
He leafed through the cd rack like a child choosing among a hundred flavors of candy.  
  
"Street fighter... got that ...hmmm Pocket Fighter, hey this looks cute.... Crash Two... nah... Oooh, I didn't know they made Counter Strike for the Play Station... Final Fantasty 7.... 8 ... 9 ... does this game never end? 10 is out already?! Chocobo Race.... hmmmm... X Men Mutant Academy 2.... Cool... Sukoiden.... hmmmm.... Wait a minute."  
  
He back-tracked a game and stared at the familiar figures of Wolverine and Mystique on the cover.   
  
"Wow. There's actually an X-men game. Wait'll I tell the others!"  
  
He grabbed the game plus a couple of others that he had already placed aside and ran to the counter. Oblivous to the cute girl trying to flirt with him, he paid for his games with the ever handy Xavier Platinum Card, flashed her a heartmelting grin, then skipped merrily out, leaving the cashier blushing as she stared at his cute behind.  
  
The drive home was pretty uneventful, thank Goddess. The last thing he wanted right now was to meet the Juggernaut on the road and get into a fist fight with him. Okay, so maybe that's not the last thing he wanted-- but if he'd have to fight Juggie, he'd rather it in the game than in real.  
  
Turning off the engine, Bobby Drake jumped out of the car and ran to the rec room, yelling "Bluuuuee! I'm home!"  
  
  
*****  
  
  
Bobby tapped his foot impatiently as the 'Sony' and 'Play Station' logos announced themselves on the screen. He was slouched on the couch, the PlayStation console pulled across the the floor via long threads of wire, cds in a disarray around him.   
  
The screen went black for a moment, the Artivision and Paradox credits appearing, and a familiar sound started.  
  
"Hey! It's Blue! BLUEEEEEE!!! It's you. Hank get your butt here now!" He yelled. "Wow, It's Ro! Cool move! I'd hate to be that robot Logan just sliced... HAH!!! Scott just saved Logan's butt!!! Hahahaha... Hey! It's Kurt! Oooh Rogue, you're looking good! It's the Professor!!!" He stared transfixed at the screen. "Agh! No! It's Juggie! And Maggie! And Mysty! ...and who's that other guy?" Bobby leaned forward and squinted.   
  
He didn't have enough time to think. The screen dissolved to the default star up menu, the words X-Men Mutant Academy 2 blazed boldly across the wide screen.  
  
It was only after a full minute, long after the introduction movie played that Bobby realized, "What the-- I wasn't there!" He glared at the tv, then at the cd case. Jeannie wasn't in the intro either. Or Remy. He felt a little better. Maybe they were saving the best for last!  
  
He looked at the menu and hit the controller buttons. Down, Down, Hmm, Arcade Mode? Okay. Accept. X.  
  
"Blueeeee! Where are you?" he yelled out again. "I wanna kick your butt!"   
  
It took a few seconds for the game to load before the familiar faces of both the X-men and their enemies pasted themselves on the screen.   
  
"Hi Scott!" he waved at the screen. It didn't take even a moment for Bobby to familiarize himself with the control buttons. "Hah Logan. Roro! There you are Remy. And Jean too! Blue!" He took a quick glance towards the door and muttered something like 'slow genius furballs'. He brought his attention back to the character menu. "Ewww it's Toad! And Sabretooth. And Mystique! And Magneto! What the hell is Alex doing here? And Forge too?! It's Kurt! Those programmers must really like Rogue." He grinned at Rogue's profile on the screen, and stuck his tongue out at the others.  
  
And then he blinked.  
  
No, no... he stared hard and long at the screen.  
  
And then he blinked again.  
  
And then he wailed, and the temperature in and around the mansion dropped.  
  
*****  
  
Hank found his best friend in the kitchen nursing two cartons of ice cream, glaring at Jean and Rogue from across the room.  
  
"That was mah favorite ahs cream, Bobby!" Rogue yelled.  
  
In response, Bobby sunk his spoon in the cookies and cream carton and took a big bite.  
  
"Wha, I oughtta--" Hank rested a paw on Rogue's arm, and she immediately simmered down.   
  
"Robert?" Hank spoke softly. "The temperature dropped in the laboratory quite abruptly. I was wondering if you had anything to do with that."  
  
Bobby took another bite of ice cream, this time from the pistachio-almond carton. Jean frowned.  
  
Hank took a few giant steps forward and sat beside the sullen Bobby. "Bobby? Is something the matter?"  
  
Bobby muttered something under his breath about a game.  
  
"Bobby?"  
  
"I said I'm not in the game." he mumbled again.  
  
This earned him a perplexed look from all three. "What are you talking about Bobby?" Jean asked.  
  
"The game!"  
  
"What game?"  
  
"THE GAME!" Bobby yelled and focused his attention back at the ice cream cartons.  
  
Sudden realization dawned upon the women. They looked at each other, small smiles at first, which turned to small frowns. Hank looked at them, the puzzled look on his face changing to one of understanding when Jean mouthed 'playstation'. He looked helplessly at his icy friend, not quite sure what to say. The two X-women took their seats too around the small kitchen nook.  
  
"Bobby," Rogue started. "How ah, did yah find out about the game?"  
  
"You knew about it!" Hurt tinged Bobby words. Jean winced, and Hank looked abashed.  
  
"Of course we did sugah... they uh..." her voice trailed off, not sure if explaining to Bobby that they were all contacted to 'model' for the game would make the blow to his ego even greater.  
  
The glass of water beside the ice cream cartons froze.  
  
"Bobby," Jean tried this time. "We didn't tell you about it because we knew it would hurt your feelings."  
  
"Of course it would! You guys are there! I'm not!" The air felt chillier again.  
  
Hank tried a different approach. "How about a game then, Robert? You can try and kick my posterior."  
  
That earned the fuzzy blue doctor an icy glare. "At least you have a butt to get kicked in the game Hank. I don't. And the hell, I am not using anyone else's character."  
  
Silence ensued for the next few minutes.  
  
"Robert, we apologize for not telling you."  
  
A sniff.   
  
"Yeah sugah. Weah sorry!"  
  
"We're really sorry, Bobby"  
  
Bobby looked up from and replied. "If you're really sorry, how bout buying me another few cartons of ice cream?" He got up and threw the empty boxes. "Oh, and do get rocky road, and an extra bag of marshmallows. Pistachio really isn't my thing."  
  
  
*****  
  
  
Bobby was finally a little less miffed, and a whole lot less sulky now that he had a carton of rocky road, two bags of marshmallow, a pint of the new avocado flavor, a half gallon of Breyer's strawberry, and another half gallon of TCBY's vanilla. Sugar rush does that to you. Plus, Hank promised to share his secret stash of Twinkies.  
  
"I don't believe they didn't put me in!" he wailed. They were back in the rec room, the game was on, and the characters displayed on the screen. "They put Alex and Forge in there! Alex!" Bobby made a face.  
  
Rogue was a little oblivious to Bobby now as she looked at her PS self. Damn she looked good. She was glad that finally some people liked her. The whole no-touch thing was really infuriating, but at least they made it up to her in some other ways.  
  
Hank grabbed the control pads, Jean diving for the other, grining widely. It was ages since they played the game, seeing how the Professor banned the game from the mansion in case it hurt the other members of the team -like Bobby. But now that he knew all about it, it's play time!  
  
Hank and Jean of course chose their PS selves.  
  
"I can't believe you're playing that right in from of me!" Bobby grabbed a throw pillow and thwapped Hank aross the head.   
  
"Robert! Stop that! I'm trying to--" Hank yelled a very un-Hank obscenity as the Phoenix grabbed the Beast in a telekenetic hold and won the round. "See what you did?" He straightened his back and concentrated on beating Jean in the next two rounds.  
  
Apparently, scientific genius minds extends to even playtime as the Beast won the game. Jean huffed and pouted.  
  
"How can you play that in front of me?" Bobby mock-sighed. "You're killing me!"  
  
"Aww lighten up sugah!" This time Rogue thwapped Bobby with a pillow.  
  
The screen went back to the character menu as Jean pestered Hank for a rematch.   
  
"Hey Blue, what are those?" Bobby pointed to two blank squares on the bottom of all the faces.  
  
"Oh those? I believe I am not too sure..."  
  
"Oh c'mon Blue. You know everything."  
  
"I do not know everything, Robert."  
  
"Yes you do!"  
  
"I do not, Robert."  
  
"Do!"  
  
"Not!"  
  
"Do!"  
  
"Not!"  
  
"Do!"  
  
"Not!"  
  
"Boys! Those ah for the secret codes! Now stop that!" Rogue threw two pillows at them.  
  
Bobby stood up. "Codes, huh?" He ran out of the room to go search the net for those codes. "Thank Rogue!" He called out. "I knew I'd get one of you to spill!"  
  
Hank sighed. They underestimate Bobby's mind too much.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
Bobby pressed the buttons of the control pad quickly. He had found the 'secret codes' on a cheat site. Not bothering to read any of ramblings on it, he only quickly glanced at the needed codes, memorized them, and ran back to the rec room where he grabbed the control pad from Hank. Jean and Rogue had left for yet another of their infamous shopping sprees.  
  
The character menu loaded up again, this time the two boxes below held the pictures of Psylocke and Juggernaut.  
  
"The Juggernaut!? And even Betsy is here!!! This is not faaaaaaiiiiiiiir!"   
  
"What de heck is making all de racket in here?" Remy stood in the doorway, holding his hands up in his ears.  
  
"Me!" Bobby raised up both hands proudly.  
  
Remy shoved his hands inside his coat pocket, and from where Bobby was seated, he could make out a faint reg glow. Immediately, he dropped his hands.   
  
"Ey! De game! Remy wanna play!" He jumped over the couch to where Bobby and Hank were seated on the rug.  
  
"You can't! We're playing first!" Bobby quickly handed Hank the other control pad. Hank grinned and of course chose the Beast. Bobby frowned. This was a really really hard decision. Who among all these characters was good enough for him to choose.   
  
"Choose de Gambit!"  
  
"Hah! No way!" Bobby absently scrolled up and down. No way was he gonna choose an X-man. And absolutely no way was he gonna choose Alex. So that left the bad guys. He finally chose Magneto. At least Magneto was cool, even if he were a bad guy.  
  
They chose the pool stage, and Bobby choked.  
  
"What in the world is Magneto wearing?" Bobby rolled on the floor laughing, as Magneto appeared in an orange and purple little trunks and what seemed to be a beach blanket ensemble. The Beast appeared in an equally hilarious outfit that sent tears up Bobby's eyes.  
  
Hank obviously won the match, as Bobby could barely get up from the floor from luaghing too hard. He exited the game, only to be asked by Bobby to a rematch in between bouts of laughter.  
  
He chose himself again, and Bobby Magneto, only he has accidentally pushed the L1 button while trying to get up.  
  
Instead of Magneto, Professor Xavier showed up. Complete with his hover wheelchair.  
  
Bobby merely gaped at the screen as the Beast pummeled the Professor for two rounds.  
  
"Remy wanna play now!"  
  
"No!"   
  
Remy made a grab for Bobby's controller, and Bobby pulled it back. It resulted to a buncha keys and buttons being pressed, before Remy finally 'stole' the control pad from Bobby. Unnoticed to them, the screen loaded up to show Beast and a Spiderman ready for battle.  
  
"What the hell is Spiderman doing in this game?!? He's not an X-man!!! I've had it! First Forge, but Forge is okay. Then all those bad guys, but I guess a game should have bad guys. Then Alex. Alex!!! Of all people!!! Now Spiderman! And the PROFESSOR! In his wheelchair!!!"   
  
Bobby fumed, hit the 'open' button on the console, grabbed the cd, and walked out of the rec room.   
  
"Robert! What are you going to do with that!" Hank called out.  
  
"I want a refund!" Bobby answered. And continued walking towards his room.   
  
From the distance, he heard wail.  
  
"But Remy wanna plaaaaaaaaay!"  
  
  
****  
  
  
He was driving back to the game store when Bobby realized something. No, he wasn't going to refund the cd. He made a U-turn, drove off, organized his thoughts and grinned.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
From the penthouse office in his building, Warren Worthington III frowned as he looked at the unlabeled package on his desk. He grabbed his letter opener and cleanly sliced the top open. Turning over the brown envelope, his frown turned into a huge grin when he saw the cd that fell on his mahogany table.  
  
"Wow. X-Men Mutant Academy 2."  
  
He glanced around his office quickly, making sure it was empty, and pressed a button under his drawer, and from his left, a woodstained panel opened, revealing a huge wide screen tv, complete with all the gizmos any guy would dream off. A new PlayStation console sat on one of shelves, and Warren made his way to it, inserting the cd, and turning the unit on.  
  
He continued grinning as the Sony, PlayStation, Artivision and Paradox credits came about, then the intro movie and the menu.  
  
From outside his office, Triney, Warren's executive secretary winced when she heard her boss wail.  
  
"WHAT THE @#%!& HELL?! I'M NOT HEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!!!!"  
  
  
  
  
--the end-- 


End file.
